How to Create a Flash Website in Two Hours

Sometimes it happens that all your plans go down because of a major client who wants to have a magnificent website right here and right now. Most likely, every web developer knows the feelings that take over you after such unexpected but money-promising order. In most cases, orders of this sort end up as a lot of troubles for a developer, that’s the simple truth that everybody will agree with. On one hand, you feel like you want to throw all your efforts to complete the task as soon as you can, but on the other hand, you understand that it will be rather hard to create a website by the deadline. But business is business, and you have to do the job you get paid for, because as a business person, you have to take care of permanent profits and reputation.

So, being in such conditions, I couldn’t refuse an offer from one of my permanent clients who needed to make Flash website for his company in a matter of a couple of days. Frankly speaking, I didn’t hope to much for the extensive functionality of the website we were to build, but still why not to take a chance?!

I had to create a corporate website for the distributor of art paintings. According to the target audience interests, there was a need to mention the info about the firm and its existing partners, as well as to deliver the info proving the company’s credibility on the market. The task was more than clear, but the time was not on my side and all I had left to do was to ask Google: "What should I do?" And the reply came over: "MotoCMS is an advanced Flash CMS aimed at Flash developers, design studios or freelancers, which allows them to create professional Flash websites." (this is an actual quote from the Google search). It sounded promisingly, so I didn’t want to lose another minute.

Among the variety of Flash templates in the MotoCMS store, I chose a business template designed in minimalist style with original bubbled menu buttons moving randomly at the Splash page. That was exactly what I needed, there was no doubt.

This Flash template is designed in a calm color scheme, but it’s ok, because, as it is said, I can change all the settings into whatever I want.

First of all, I registered the demo version of MotoCMS to try it free in action for 30 days. In order to do it I just needed to type my email at the proper field and to click on the theme I’d like to test.

As soon as the registration was successfully completed, I’ve got an e-mail with my permanent demo URL plus login and password for entering the control panel. The template with all changes is available for 30 days and is saved on the MotoCMS hosting. Due to this feature, you can show your work to the customer from wherever you want, and then buy the template with all customizations already in it. That’s why I didn’t pay for the template before the client approved the results of my work.

So, I started the customization…

The first thing I’ve seen after entering my demo account was the Splash Page with a toolbar.

This Flash CMS is equipped with WYSIWYG editor, which helps you to edit the layout elements without any specific software and complex programming knowledge. So, even an end-user with no experience in Flash can build a website on this CMS. Just double click on the element you’d like to correct and do what you have to do. For example, I tried to edit the company name and its slogan.

And the thing I’d recommend you to pay attention at is the toolbar at the right side of the window – there are all functions you may need while formatting the text.

Next I changed the menu colors. The double click on one of the "navigation bubbles" opens the Main Menu window which allows me to add or delete menu labels, edit titles, colors and click actions. In addition, I changed one of menu titles from Solutions to Testimonials. It didn’t take me too long and my customer was glad.

But it’s not enough to make my small changes work correctly. This Flash CMS template contains 2 types of menu: the main one located on the Splash Page and the page menu which is displayed on every page through the website. Both of these components had to be edited. And of course, it was necessary to rename the page itself. It can be easily done through the Content settings section. On the same screenshot you can see some results of my work.

After all, I was ready to start managing the content. For that, I had to choose the page I wanted to work with. (if you don’t know how to do it, the previous screenshot will help you). Let’s test the new Testimonials page.

Ok, it’s a big moment! Fanciful designs with any images, videos and colors are entirely at your disposal! Just note: while adding new content to the web pages, don’t forget to select the placement of your element. Otherwise you’ll observe them on every page. You must admit that it’s not the best way to decorate your website.

After all, I was really glad to know that every page of the Flash template is separately indexed by search engines. To customize these settings I opened Preferences – Website – SEO & Analytics.

There are Site Map, Google Analytics and Web Master tools. Frankly speaking, it was the first time I saw that each Flash page has its own unique URL.

There is one thing that should be pointed out: after saving your precious customized template, please take a minute to compress the website – it will speed up its loading by compressing XML files.

After browsing through the web for a while I’ve found a company which already uses this particular Flash CMS template. For me as a developer, it was interesting to see other design solutions of the same initial materials.

Google says that this website is really well indexed. For me, Google is an incontestable authority, so I’m inclined to believe it. Here is the confirmation of this statement:

Well, the website is ready. Surely, it needs to be filled with the company info, but due to the MotoCMS control panel, the client doesn’t need me for this.And now I can proudly offer you to look at my Flash website created in two hours only! Don’t judge me strictly, and thank you for the attention and patience!

At the very end, I’d like to thank the MotoCMS team for their feature-rich Flash CMS. For quite a reasonable price, you get almost unlimited opportunities. As for me, it is a good chance to try your best in quick and quality Flash website creation.